This case assignment has two parts.
The first part of this assignment you bring the following case study of
John and Carla to life. You will need to find two people to play John
and Carla.
Prepare, record a 10-15 minute Role Play over Zoom, Teams, Google
Meet or face to face.
In your video you will choose one of the following models: The
Gottman Method, Bowen Systems Theory or Imago Relationship
Therapy. During this video you will:
(1) Identify the couple or family problem,
(2) Ask questions that are related to your model that you choose.
(3) Develop interventions based on this model (**If you are unable to
develop your intervention) discuss the intervention that might have
been chosen in your paper.
Post your video link in your final paper.
In the second section of the paper, you will discuss a couple/family
therapy theory from this course, and how you applied it to John and
Carla. Some aspects that you will pay close attention to is the topic of
interracial and intercultural aspects and how this may impact the
presenting issues and therapy.
What is your conceptualization and treatment plan? Conceptualization
refers to how a therapist working within that theory would define the
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problem in the family – using that theory’s concepts, what would the
therapist say is “the problem,” or the reason things aren’t working
well currently.
Hello Everyone,
Here is the case relating to the case assignment
COUPLES COUNSELING – CASE EXAMPLE
John and Carla: A Case Example
John and Carla have been married for 7 years. They have two
children,aged 5 and 3. John is a computer technician and Carla has
been a homemaker since the birth of their first child. They live in a
niceneighborhood in one of the suburbs of a big city in the United
States.John and Carla met when she travelled to the U.S. while on a
vacation from Latin America. She had been traveling with a group of
friends butupon meeting John, she ended up spending much of her
remainingvacation with him. They maintained a long-distance
relationship and after 6 months they decided that Carla would
immigrate to the U.S. and that they would live together. They fell in
love and got married a year later. He used to describe her as a “free
spirit”, someone who could do the wildest thing on a whim. He loved
her spontaneity and genuineness. Carla admired John’s brain and the
way he made her laugh. She felt safe with him and believed he was
very dependable. In the beginning of their relationship they got along
really well and were very happy. The first time they both started
feeling that the relationship was not working well was after the birth of
their first child. Initially, both wanted to have a baby, and both were
thrilled when their first daughter, Charlotte, was born. However, in the
months following the birth they started arguing a lot about small
things. Soon after, they started blaming one another for various
things. Carla blamed John for not taking on a fair share of the baby’s
care and house chores, and John blamed Carla for criticizing him and
for always nagging him about “stupid little things”. Things had gotten
so bad that they started thinking about separating. However, they still
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wanted to give it a try and, in an attempt, to mend things, they went
away on a holiday, only to discover a couple of weeks after their
return that Carla was pregnant again. At first, they were both
overwhelmed by the news, but then they talked it through and agreed
that it had probably been a sign that they should stick together and
raise their family. The next few months went fairly well. Carla felt that
John was taking care of her and making sure she was comfortable and
safe. Carla was mostly in a good mood and tried to minimize her
requests from John. Things were looking up. However, shortly after
the birth of their son, Sean, they started fighting again. The tension in
the house was getting worse every day. They were both very tired and
drained. Carla was feeling overwhelmed with taking care of two
children and she felt abandoned by John. She started begging him to
come home early, or not to go to work at all. For his part, John was
working more hours than ever. He often missed dinner and when he
did not, he would often say he was exhausted and go to bed
immediately after dinner. The bitterness and anger in the relationship
grew more and more until John told Carla one day that he had rented
an apartment and was moving out. Carla was devastated. Even though
she was very unhappy in the relationship, she did not expect that
John would leave her especially, as an immigrant, she had made
sacrifices. She was desperate and begged him to reconsider. They
came to therapy as a “last resort”. In therapy, it became clear that
both Carla and John were not taking care of their own needs. They
were both exhausted and were feeling completely tied down. Neither
of them, especially Carla, was getting any breathers. One of the first
things that Carla and John learned in therapy was to give each other
some space and enable each other to take care of themselves. They
have worked out a plan whereby each of them gets some time for
themselves, 3 times a week. After 3 sessions, the fighting has
diminished but the couple was still feeling alienated from one another.
In the next few sessions, we uncovered Carla and John’s cycle. It
looked somewhat like this: Carla or John would make a comment
about the kids, the house or a chore that needed to be done. The
partner would react to it resentfully and would make a nasty remark.
John would tend to withdraw and avoid Carla by going to bed or
taking off. Carla would get irritated and pursue John, wanting to settle
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the matter on the spot. John would withdraw even further and would
not speak to Carla, sometimes for days. At some point Carla would
withdraw as well and they would not speak to each other for a few
days, until one of them would mention something trivial to the other
and they would start talking again. In therapy, Carla and John were
able to identify their insecurities about the relationship. Carla’s
pursuit of John was motivated by her fear of abandonment; she feared
he would leave her and was worried that if they did not resolve their
differences immediately, he would leave. Each time John left the room
or the house she interpreted it as him leaving her and would get even
more desperate. John was withdrawing and avoiding Carla because he
could not take the conflict. It was just “too much” for him. It meant
that they were not getting along and that indeed there would be no
alternative but to split. John admitted that he dreaded a split up too.
Carla and John learned that both had deep feelings for each other and
that both valued their relationship and wanted to stay together. Carla
learned to give John some space and not pursue him when he was
asking for a time-out. John learned to give Carla a sign that meant that
he was not leaving her but just taking a time-out. With time, they also
learned to listen to each other in a way that validated each other’s
feelings, thoughts, hopes and wishes. They learned to work out their
differences in a respectful and non-defensive way. Possibly, the most
important thing they learned was that they had the tools, the ability
and the desire to make their relationship a safe and comforting place,
a sort of “safe haven” that couples can create for themselves and for
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